


The Wolves and the Soulless

by Red Eyes Black Scythe (VisceraNight)



Series: too late for whispers [3]
Category: Castlevania (Cartoon)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Role Reversal, Devil Forgemaster Carmilla (Castlevania), F/M, Human Carmilla (Castlevania), Not Really a Pairing YET But It's Heading In That Direction, Pre-Romance, Some Backstory, Vampire Hector (Castlevania), Wolves
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-12
Updated: 2019-11-14
Packaged: 2020-12-09 18:11:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,260
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20999144
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/VisceraNight/pseuds/Red%20Eyes%20Black%20Scythe
Summary: Hector and Carmilla get to know one another as he assists her at her forge.Vampire!Hector brings his entire pack of wolves with him everywhere he goes, of course.





	1. Chapter 1

~ The Wolves and the Soulless ~

"_You're_ helping me?"

Hector gave an awkward laugh in response to the Forgemaster's disgruntled query. That wasn't quite the greeting he'd expected after volunteering for this task.

"Yes," he said. "What do you need me to do?"

Carmilla cast a wary eye over the wolves that now filled the room, before addressing the vampire general.

"Lift the corpses onto the table for me."

She gestured with her staff to indicate first the corpse pile, then the forge table.

"Sounds easy enough," he said.

"Maybe for a vampire," Carmilla grumbled, as she edged away from several curious wolves whose attention was now locked on the length of wood in her hand.

"Don't mind them," Hector said, gently shooing the wolves away from her. "They're just big puppies."

One of the wolves let out a small unhappy whine, while another started to slink toward Carmilla again.

"No," Hector told them firmly, winding his hand into the fur of the moving one's neck. "It's not a stick. You can't have it. Leave her alone."

He released the wolf and waded through the rest of the pack to the corpse pile. He grabbed a corpse in each hand and started to carry them back to the table, only to find Carmilla glaring at him.

"One at a time," she said. From the brittle tone of her voice, he could tell she was near the end of her patience.

"Sorry, I've never done this before."

Hector dropped one corpse carelessly back onto the pile and carried the other over to the table.

Then he stood back and watched the Forgemaster work, the corpse slowly changing shape from mangled human remains into a vaguely equine creature with slick purple skin.

His wolves moved closer to him, away from the new Night Creature as it clambered down from the table.

"Another," Carmilla demanded.

It took Hector longer than it should have to realize this command was directed at him, since his entire reason for being down here was to carry corpses for her. He wended his way through the wolves to the body pile and brought another one over to the table.

* * *

As he deposited the next corpse on the forge table, he asked, "Why do you need help with this?"

"I can't carry them myself."

"Isaac doesn't have a problem carrying them."

"_Isaac_ is used to a life of hard labor," Carmilla snapped. "I was a spoiled daughter of a noble house. I'd never lifted anything heavier than a drinking glass in my life, before..." She trailed off.

Hector just stood there staring at her for a few long moments - during which time one of his wolves snuck close to Carmilla and sat down at her side. She reached out a tentative hand to pat the wolf between its ears, and when it responded with a happy sound, she continued to pet it. When she lifted her hand away, the wolf leaned against her side, apparently having decided that it liked her.

However, she wasn't looking at the wolf. She'd been watching the vampire the entire time, and his nonplussed expression over her previous statement had slowly morphed into a smile as he watched her interaction with his pet.

After far too long of a lull, he continued the conversation.

"And how did the spoiled daughter of a noble family end up studying the dark arts?"

"I never studied them," she replied, crossing her arms over her chest defensively. "I have a natural talent for raising the dead, which I only discovered a few years ago, after my father died." She paused a moment to let that sink in. "I'm sure you can guess how that went."

"You... reanimated his corpse?" he put forth hesitantly.

"It was an accident!" A faint blush colored her cheeks and she looked down at the wolf (which was still pressed against her side) as an excuse to turn her face away from him. "People were terrified. My rank and the fact that I'd been horrified by my own power as well were the only things that kept them from killing me outright. I spent a year locked in the dungeon of my own castle before Dracula came and freed me. He told me he'd heard rumors of a countess who was a Devil Forgemaster. I hadn't even known what that _meant_ at the time."

Hector spent a few long moments struggling to come up with something to say, finally settling on: "Well, you seem to know what you're doing now, anyway..."

Carmilla shrugged.

"Dracula explained a few things to me, and I spent the next few years practicing the use of my powers, in case he ever called in the favor I owed him for freeing me."

The conversation ended there, and an awkward silence stretched between them as she took up her staff once more and returned to the task at hand.

~oOo~


	2. Chapter 2

~ The Wolves and the Soulless ~

After several days of working together, the two of them had fallen into a comfortable rhythm. Carmilla had become just as at ease with the wolves as their master was, and would pause to give them an affectionate pat or scratch behind their ears as she waded her way through the pack. Now familiar with his required tasks, Hector would perform them without needing to be instructed.

Although the vampire general seemed to have completely let down his guard around her, Carmilla was still wary. It was a week after he'd been assigned to assist her that she finally asked him, "How did you end up as one of Dracula's generals, anyway?"

He seemed neither particularly strong nor loyal to the old man.

"As a child, I was taken into the forest in the middle of the night and tied up and left on an altar as a sacrifice to keep the rest of the villagers safe from the local monsters. Instead of eating me, the vampire took me in and raised me. And, once I had matured into an adult, I was given the choice of being turned or remaining human and going off to make a life for myself among humans." Here he paused for a moment. "You can see which I chose."

"And that vampire was Dracula?"

"It was one of his generals, actually. I didn't meet Dracula until after I'd been turned."

Perhaps whichever general had turned Hector was equally as opposed to Dracula's ideals as Hector was. Perhaps that was where she would find the ally she needed... Carmilla had to fight to keep her eagerness out of her voice as she asked, "Which of the generals was it?"

"Sharma," Hector replied. Noticing Carmilla's perplexed expression, he said, "What?"

"Nothing," Carmilla said, shrugging. "I'm just... surprised to find out that's who it was."

"He's more kind and nurturing than you'd think."

Carmilla sighed. Sharma was also one of generals who was least likely to even consider betraying Dracula... not because he agreed with the old bat's plan, but because he was too timid to stand up to him.

Sensing the change in her mood, the wolves closest to Carmilla clustered around her, pressing themselves against her and jumping up to lick her face as they tried to in vain to cheer her up.

It was only later, after they had parted ways and Carmilla was alone in her room, that she realized Hector had never actually told her how he'd become a general in Dracula's army. Unless nepotism was the answer and he'd thought it was obvious without further explanation.

~oOo~


End file.
